Review Blog

Jul 29 2015

Galactic Hot Dogs: Cosmoe's Wiener Getaway by Max Braillier

Ill. by Rachel Maguire and Nichole Kelley. Simon & Schuster,
2015. ISBN: 9781471123122
From The Wimpy Kid to Captain Underpants there has
been a surge in books featuring both text and cartoon styled
pictures. Some are easier to read than others. Cosmoe's Wiener
Getaway will appeal for the cartoon style but I fear that
there could be too much text, and action on each page for less
confident readers to be able to negotiate and understand. I had to
re-read quite often, but then I'm more than probably out of the loop
with both the style, language and content.
Cosmoe the Earth Boy and his alien friend Humphree have entered
their space ship the Neon Wiener in the Intragalactic Food Truck
Cook Off, run by evil Queen Dagger. Their offering is a Mega-Dog, a
giant hotdog, which is stolen by Princess Dagger who then stows away
on the Neon Wiener. Her mother the Queen, thinking that she has been
kidnapped, sends the Royal Amada of Jack Jets in pursuit.
In their bid to escape, especially as the Princess refuses to return
to the Queen they eventually discover the Lost Triangle (The Bermuda
Triangle of Space apparently) where legend has it treasure is to be
found. The treasure is one slice of a map-o-sphere. When they find
all 3 slices it will lead them to the Ultimate Evil. When this
information is accidently broadcast all and sundry are after them as
they follow clues to the other pieces.
With space pirates, Zombies all manner of evil space creatures, hot
sauce and fighting, the action is fast, furious and often quite
confusing. Like a good action comic there is an abundance of
exclamation marks and Onomatopoeia in a variety of fonts.
A saving grace is that the evil Princess turns out to be not so evil
after all, though she definitely enjoys the rough and tumble of
battle and has a leading role in the action joining forces with the
Neon Wiener crew to save the galaxy.
Sue Keane